Hymns of the God’s Gardeners

I’ve been reading Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy, and will be reviewing it in the near future. But I wanted to highlight one component of the second book in the trilogy, The Year of the Flood.

The novel includes snippets of sermons as well as a whole set of complete songs reflecting the theology of this fictional religious group, God’s Gardeners. They are concerned with the environment and humanity’s mistreatment of it, and are expecting a “waterless flood” that will come to cleanse and restore the Earth. There are references to the Bible as “the written words of God” and yet the interpretations offered are far from literalistic. They are creative, insightful, and make the book all the more interesting and enjoyable for a reader like myself.

Stoeber has a YouTube channel, and on it you can find a few of the songs. Here are a couple of examples (starting with “The Earth Forgives”):

The folksy style of many of his settings (and 50s-60s rock style of others) is probably perfect, since the group has elements of the hippy and the environmental concern that is often closely connected with folk music and the 60s.

Yet, just as we have songs and hymns sung to multiple tunes, and set to new tunes, I am very interested in seeing some of the hymns put to music that could be used in churches where folk or 50s and 60s rock music simply doesn’t fit. (And just to illustrate the potential, although not intended to be a serious version, here is one of them sung to the tune of “Amazing Grace” at an event at Emory University at which Atwood spoke):

Finally, here is Atwood talking about the novel, including why she avoids characterizing them as science fiction.

Her theological insight is simply awesome, and I love the way she treats it with such sensitivity and sympathy, while giving it no undue quarter. Thanks for sharing the music and videos. I hadn’t realised they’d been set to music.